Progress Toward a Living Wage in Colorado

Did you know Colorado’s minimum wage increased on New Year’s Day from $9.30 to $10.20 per hour? Raising wages will help Colorado families, communities, and our economy thrive. This is a real victory for workers. But $10.20 is not nearly enough. We’re going to continue fighting to increase the minimum wage until it’s truly a livable wage that can adequately cover increasing rents and costs of living.

SEIU Local 105’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) is our voluntary and nonpartisan Political Action Committee for advocacy on behalf of workers. COPE was instrumental in our ability to win on minimum wage and it’s how we hold politicians accountable at every level of government, and how we ensure that our union builds the political power we need to win strong contracts, better benefits, and pass laws to protect our jobs.

When Amendment 70 passed on November 8, 2016, Colorado started on its path toward a livable wage that could help cover rapidly increasing rents and costs of living. Between 2012 and 2016 alone, average Colorado rents increased six times faster than average wage growth (42% vs. 7%). At the start of 2017, Colorado minimum wages increased from $8.31 to $9.30. Today’s step increase from $9.30 to $10.20 is progress, but we need your help to continue this momentum.

Unemployment continued to fall in Colorado throughout 2017. Continued job growth proves what we already knew— increasing the minimum wage does not hurt the economy or corporations. It’s time for lawmakers, businesses, and communities to come together around a simple but crucial goal: Full time workers and their families should not be living in or on the edge of poverty.

If you’d like to get involved or receive more info about our advocacy efforts on the minimum wage and other issues that benefit workers, click here.